Today, a new pro­gres­sive gov­ern­ment was sworn in to over­see Wash­ing­ton and Ida­ho’s north­ern neigh­bor of British Colum­bia, Canada’s third largest province. Led by John Hor­gan, it con­sists of eleven men and eleven women from the New Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty (NDP), the more pro­gres­sive of B.C.‘s two major polit­i­cal parties.

The NDP is return­ing to pow­er after hav­ing spent a decade and a half as Her Majesty’s oppo­si­tion. In the recent May 9th elec­tion, the NDP gained enough seats to deny the not-lib­er­al BC Lib­er­als a major­i­ty, but not quite enough to form their own major­i­ty. Con­se­quent­ly, the NDP nego­ti­at­ed a con­fi­dence and sup­ply agree­ment with the Green Par­ty, who won three seats in the same election.

The com­bined NDP-Green alliance con­trols a bare major­i­ty of forty-four seats in British Columbi­a’s Leg­isla­tive Assem­bly, with the Lib­er­als hold­ing the remain­ing forty-three of eighty-sev­en seats. (Yes, it’s that tight.) The alliance held togeth­er when pre­vi­ous Pre­mier Christy Clark decid­ed to test the con­fi­dence of the house, prompt­ing Clark to sub­mit her res­ig­na­tion to Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor Judith Gui­chon, the vicere­gal rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Her Majesty Queen Eliz­a­beth II.

Gui­chon accept­ed Clark’s res­ig­na­tion and asked NDP Leader John Hor­gan to form a minor­i­ty gov­ern­ment in the Queen’s name after Hor­gan assured her he had the con­fi­dence of the house to gov­ern. And thus the tran­si­tion of pow­er began.

That tran­si­tion end­ed today in a cer­e­mo­ny at Gov­ern­ment House, where Hor­gan and his cab­i­net were sworn in by Gui­chon. The new cab­i­net is gen­der bal­anced (at least between the tra­di­tion­al male and female gen­ders) and includes the first per­son to serve as min­is­ter from one of Canada’s First Nations.

New British Colum­bia Pre­mier John Hor­gan with the Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of British Colum­bia (Pho­to cour­tesy of John Horgan)

Here is the ros­ter:

• John Hor­gan, Premier
• Car­ole James, Min­is­ter of Finance and Deputy Premier
• Adri­an Dix, Min­is­ter of Health
• Rob Flem­ing, Min­is­ter of Education
• David Eby, Attor­ney General
• Mike Farn­worth, Min­is­ter of Pub­lic Safe­ty and Solic­i­tor General
• Har­ry Bains, Min­is­ter of Labour
• George Hey­man, Min­is­ter of Envi­ron­ment and Cli­mate Change Strategy
• Claire Treve­na, Min­is­ter of Trans­porta­tion and Infrastructure
• Lana Popham, Min­is­ter of Agriculture
• Katrine Con­roy, Min­is­ter of Chil­dren & Fam­i­ly Development
• Judy Dar­cy, Min­is­ter of Men­tal Health and Addictions
• Melanie Mark, Min­is­ter of Advanced Edu­ca­tion and Skills Training
• Seli­na Robin­son, Min­is­ter of Munic­i­pal Affairs and Housing
• Michelle Mungall, Min­is­ter of Ener­gy, Mines & Petro­le­um Resources
• Doug Don­ald­son, Min­is­ter of Forests, Lands, Nat­ur­al Resource Oper­a­tions and Rur­al Development
• Kat­ri­na Chen, Min­is­ter of State for Childcare
• Jin­ny Sims, Min­is­ter of Cit­i­zens’ Services
• Scott Fras­er, Min­is­ter of Indige­nous Rela­tions and Reconciliation
• Bruce Ral­ston, Min­is­ter of Jobs, Trade and Technology
• George Chow, Min­is­ter of State for Trade
• Shane Simp­son, Min­is­ter of Social Devel­op­ment and Pover­ty Reduction
• Lisa Beare, Min­is­ter of Tourism, Arts and Culture

We at NPI extend our con­grat­u­la­tions to Pre­mier Hor­gan, Deputy Pre­mier James, Attor­ney Gen­er­al Eby, and the rest of the new Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of British Colum­bia. We look for­ward to see­ing this gov­ern­ment take action to improve B.C.‘s qual­i­ty of life and work to end our con­ti­nen­t’s reliance on fos­sil fuels as a source of energy.

Pro­gres­sive change has come to British Colum­bia. A new gov­ern­ment is in place that has pledged to address the peo­ple’s pri­or­i­ties and gov­ern with integrity.

Best wish­es to them as they embark upon their new, vital roles.

Except for Alas­ka, Wash­ing­ton State is now the only Amer­i­can or Cana­di­an juris­dic­tion touch­ing the waters of the Pacif­ic Ocean that still has a Leg­is­la­ture with a right wing major­i­ty in any cham­ber. Vot­ers in the 45th Dis­trict have the pow­er to change that this autumn by send­ing Demo­c­ra­t­ic stan­dard-bear­er Man­ka Dhin­gra to Olympia to replace Repub­li­can Dino Rossi in the Wash­ing­ton State Senate.